


The Unveiling

by EmberCartwright



Series: Tyzula Things [30]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/F, Fire Nation Royal Family, Fluff, Girlfriends - Freeform, political events are a drag, tyzula - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27752728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmberCartwright/pseuds/EmberCartwright
Summary: Ty Lee is forced to attend yet another statue dedication and she doesn't think she will get through this one without a meltdown, literally.
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Tyzula Things [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019697
Comments: 4
Kudos: 95





	The Unveiling

Ribbon cutting ceremonies were Ty Lee’s least favorite event to attend. Of all the duties she’d taken on as Azula’s official consort, unveilings and dedications were the slowest and most boring.

It was the same every single time. Everyone stood in the hot Caldera heat as Zuko or the Avatar talked for too long about something Ty Lee had absolutely no interest in. 

Worst of all, Azula always refused to compromise with her. 

“If you want to be a Princess you need to act like a Princess,” Azula said as Ty Lee complained before this particular event.

“It’s hot enough outside to cook an egg on the sidewalk,” she complained as Azula touched up her eyeliner. 

“Well I wouldn’t try that right now,” she said sternly. 

Ty Lee groaned and flopped on the bed. 

“Why do we have to go. I don’t want to go to this one. I’ll go next time he builds a new statue,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Come here Ty,” Azula said, more softly. “Come on.”

Ty Lee got up reluctantly and walked over to her. She hung her head, preparing to be chastised for her childish behavior. 

Instead Azula took her chin and lifted her face. With the eyeliner she was still holding she added some makeup to Ty Lee’s face. 

“I think you need some lipstick too,” Azula said thoughtful. 

“Oh yeah? What’s your shade,” Ty Lee asked, her head still in Azula’s palm. 

Azula smirked and leaned in kissing her. 

“Looks good on you,” she said, dropping Ty Lee’s face and turning towards the door. “Let’s go. I would say that the unveiling waits for no man but they actually will wait for us and I don’t need to deal with Zuzu’s attitude.”

Ty Lee huffed but followed her out. 

In the palanquin ride on the way to the statue of Lu Ten that Zuko had erected, Ty Lee sat in Azula’s lap as they made out for a bit and the princess played with the end of her braid. 

“Maybe we should just keep riding,” Ty Lee suggested as the palanquin stopped in front of the large crowd of people and Azula pulled away from under her. 

Azula chuckled and leaned forward to give her one last kiss before adopting a stoic expression and stepping onto the stage. 

Ty Lee got out after her and walked across the platform towards Azula to the sound of cheers. The cheering was the best part of any event but it did not compensate for the dreaded standing still portion

Ty Lee stood next to Azula, an appropriate distance apart but not too far apart to indicate they were anything but the perfect couple. 

She wanted more than anything to take Azula’s hand but public displays of affection were highly frowned upon. Mostly by Azula. Secretly, Ty Lee didn’t think that Zuko nor the people of the Fire Nation would care if she held Azula’s hand.

The first hour Zuko spent talking was almost bearable. Ty Lee alternated between shifting from foot to foot and trying to count to the people in the crowd. 

The next portion, where Zuko interviewed many, many men that had fought with Lu Ten was much harder to get through. 

The sun was high in the sky and Ty Lee felt herself baking. She also felt her hyperactive energy building up. She wanted to run, jump and twist. She wasn’t made for standing in place. 

She swung her arms a little, brushing her fingertips against Azula’s but each time the princess made a fist, indicating that her gesture was not appropriate. 

Then, General Iroh was introduced and he began to sing and Ty Lee could not take it anymore. Her fingers were twitching, her legs were twitching, she was sure her makeup had flown off with all the sweat on her face.

Azula had been watching Ty Lee become progressively more unhinged next to her and she felt a very strange emotion that she rarely identified in herself. It was pity. She felt bad for her girlfriend having to stand on this stage even though everyone else had to do it and exhibited with no issues. 

However, when her uncle was given a string instrument she herself felt like she could scream so she could identify with Ty Lee’s feelings. 

The next time Ty Lee swung her hand by Azula’s fingers she grabbed it. 

Ty Lee’s eyes opened wide and she turned to look at Azula but she was staring stone-faced at the general. 

Ty Lee pressed her thumb into Azula’s hand. Azula pressed back. Ty Le pushed with her thumb and then her ring finger. Azula copied the pattern. 

Biting her lip Ty Lee tried to stop herself from looking at Azula again because she knew that could get her in trouble. 

Her next pattern was thumb, ring, index. Azula matched it. 

This continued, getting progressively more complex. Eventually the patterns were 14 or 15 different steps. Ty Lee couldn’t even remember each pattern after she did it but Azula was able to mimic her perfectly, as far as she could tell. 

Then, Azula squeezed her hand which Ty Lee took to mean that they were switching roles. Azula started out easy with patterns involving a few fingers. She went much slower than Ty Lee did but Ty Lee still struggled far more than Azula had. 

Each time she got one wrong Azula redid it until she executed it correctly. 

Both of them failed to notice the time passing by and were brought out of their intense game by the sound of clapping and seeing people walking by them. 

The dedication was finished. 

Still holding Ty Lee’s hand, Azula led them back to her palanquin. 

Finally free to talk and look at one another openly Ty Lee broke into a wide smile. 

“That was so much fun! We should do that every time,” she said.

Azula smirked and leaned forward to kiss her. 

“I’m sure we could come up with a better way to put that to use,” she said when she sat back on her hands. 

Ty Lee furrowed her brow as she thought about what Azula meant. 

“I don’t understand,” she said, stumped. 

Azula smiled at her. 

“You’re cute when you think,” she said, brushing a bead of sweat off of Ty Lee’s brow. “If we could use hand signals to play a game we could probably come up with a way to talk don’t you think?”

Ty Lee’s eyes widened.

“Then we could spend every event chatting in secret and no one would know!” 

She crawled forward on the palanquin into Azula’s arms and hugged her, curling up on her lap. 

“You’re so smart ‘Zula,” she said.

“I know,” she said, stroking Ty Lee’s hair.

“Don’t you think it’s a little hot to be this close,” Azula asked, wrapping her arms around the girl in her lap. 

“It’s never too hot to be close to you,” Ty Lee said. “It might be too hot to be awake though. That was very mentally draining too,” she added.

Azula chuckled and readjusted Ty Lee so her head was resting on Azula’s shoulder like a pillow. Ty Lee allowed the steady movement of the palanquin and her girlfriend’s soothing breaths to calm her to sleep.


End file.
